What to watch on TV and streaming this week: Mix Tape, Fubar, The Survivors
We've sifted through the latest offerings from TV and streaming platforms to find the best shows you should be watching this week.
MIX TAPE
Thursday, Binge
This is certainly proving to be a big year for Teresa Palmer. Hot on the heels of Last Anniversary and ahead of her performance in the ABC drama The Family Next Door, Palmer stars as the acclaimed novelist Alison Connor in this four-part miniseries. Raised in Sheffield, England, Alison has made a shinier life for herself in Sydney as the devoted wife of a successful doctor (Ben Lawson) and mother of two girls. When her first love, Daniel (Jim Sturgess) unexpectedly reaches out online, it reignites the spark that was extinguished decades earlier when Alison left Sheffield without warning. Told across two timelines, the current day where Alison and Daniel are reconnecting through sharing music and memories online, and the 1980s where their younger selves (played by Florence Hunt and Rory Walton-Smith, pictured) are falling in love by exchanged audiocassette of their favourite songs, this is a heartwarming romance that is punctuated by a killer soundtrack.
FUBAR
Thursday, Netflix
Having successfully rescued his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) and reunited with his ex-wife Tally (Fabiana Udenio), CIA agent Luke (Arnold Schwarzenegger) finally has everyone he loves – and a few extras – under one roof. With their covers blown the team (along with Tally's deflated former fiance) are all residing together in the one safe house as Luke and his daughter again join forces to face a new enemy. This season The Matrix's Carrie-Anne Moss joins the fun as a German operative who has a history with Luke. Not ideal given the aged spy's wife is back in the picture and now across what he really does for a living. It's a fun update on True Lies that allows Arnie to do what he does best: save the day while delivering charmingly cheesy lines with complete seriousness.
THE SURVIVORS
Friday, Netflix
About to hit the big time as Benedict's mysterious love interest in the fourth instalment of Bridgerton, Yerin Ha stars here in a rather less flashy role as Mia. A new mother who was something of a wallflower at school, Mia returns home on the arm of the town's former golden boy, Kieran (Charlie Vickers) for the first time since a devastating storm claimed the lives of three people. The couple's return coincides with another shocking death, reopening old wounds for the entire community. A slow-burn thriller that will keep you guessing with its plot twists, Ha and Vickers shine alongside a stellar ensemble of local talent. Robyn Malcolm who plays Mia's embittered and passive aggressive mother-in-law and Catherine McClements as the devastated mother of a missing teenager are particularly brilliant.
ECHO VALLEY
Friday, Apple TV+
AS the old saying goes, a mother's love knows no bounds. And that's certainly the case for Kate (Julianne Moore) who continues to open up her heart, her wallet and her home to her drug-addicted daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney) even though it always ends badly. Despite this destructive vicious cycle, Kate wants to believe her daughter is getting better. And so, even when Claire turns up on the doorstep covered in someone else's blood, the devoted Kate is ready to do whatever it takes to come to the rescue (again). With terrific performances from Moore and Sweeney as well as Fiona Shaw and Domhnall Gleeson, this is a tautly scripted, psychological thriller.
ROMCON: WHO THE F**K IS JASON PORTER?
Friday, Prime Video
IF you thought Dirty John – the violent conman portrayed by Eric Bana in the 2018 Netflix drama – was the scariest guy to ever hit the modern dating scene, wait until you cop a load of Jason Porter. Jason (aka 'Jace' the hunky tradie) used online dating apps to woo lonely and insecure women and rip them off. This two-part true crime docuseries details how Heather Rovet (pictured) discovered Porter wasn't the man of her dreams and exposed his web of lies and manipulations. Featuring dramatic recreations and interviews with his victims, this miniseries exposes the dark side of online dating.
TRAVELS WITH AGATHA AND SIR DAVID SUCHET
7.30pm, Saturday, SBS
'I really feel like I am back in time with her now,' an almost reverential David Suchet exclaims as he retraces Agatha Christie's steps more than 100 years after the famed author set off on her globetrotting adventures to Egypt, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Hawaii. First stop for Suchet is Torquay, Christie's hometown and where fans gather annually to honour her life and work. While there, he talks to a local expert about Christie's 1926 disappearing act when the writer (mourning the death of her mother and her impending divorce) went AWOL for 11 days. After playing Hercule Poirot for 25 years, Suchet feels a special connection with Christie and is eager to discover more about the woman behind the books.
CALL THE MIDWIFE
7.30pm, Saturday, ABC
It's time to bid a warm farewell to the midwives for another season just as Miss Higgins (Georgie Glen) finally gets to say hello to the son she gave up for adoption and Trixie (Helen George) hits rock bottom. Sadly, the meeting between mother and son may have come too late as one of them faces a health crisis. Meanwhile, Shelagh (Laura Main) is also facing a trying family reunion when her adopted daughter's biological mother suddenly expresses an interest in making contact. Despite her angst, Shelagh puts a brave face on the situation for the sake of the child. It's the sort of tear jerking stuff that has kept viewers tuning in year after year.
LITTLE DISASTERS
9PM, Sunday, ABC
Apart from Martine McCutcheon's performance in Love Actually it's rare to see an Eastenders regular sharing the screen with a Bonafide Hollywood A Lister. And yet here we have Jo Joyner trading drinks at the Old Vic with Phil Mitchell and co for sneaky Pinot Grigios with Diane Kruger (pictured) in this six-part drama. Joyner plays a strung-out ER doctor named Liz who is forced to call social services when Jess (Kruger) her glamorous friend from mothers' group, turns up at the hospital with her injured baby. Unable – or perhaps unwilling – to explain how the screaming child hurt herself, Liz suspects her seemingly perfect friend might be keeping a dark secret. A blend of Desperate Housewives and The Cry, this six-part series is a riveting whodunit that examines the societal pressures and judgments that most mothers face.
DOC
8.50PM, Tuesday, Seven
Ever since her car accident, amnesiac doctor Amy (Molly Parker) has been trying to pick up the pieces of her life (rediscovering her bedside manner along the way). Now, having passed her exams, Amy is finally able to get back in her white coat and treat patients without supervision. Eager to prove she's up to the job, the passionate physician challenges a specialist diagnosis which causes her protégé TJ (Patrick Walker) to second guess Amy's new (more hopeful) approach to medicine. It's enough to make Amy question herself too especially now that a panicked Richard (Scott Wolf) is doing whatever he can to avoid the truth about his malpractice coming out.
TOWARDS ZERO
Britbox
While there's no moustache-twirling Poirot drawing on his 'little grey cells' or doddering Miss Marple asking seemingly innocuous questions, this three-part miniseries has all the other hallmarks of a great Agatha Christie mystery. It opens with a salacious society divorce, the celebrated tennis player Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) being accused of cheating on his wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland) with a glamorous young sports fan, Kay (Mimi Keene). The tension between the trio forms the backdrop for the mystery that will unfold — and initially baffle Inspector Leach (Matthew Rhys) during a weekend away at the home of a wealthy invalid (Anjelica Huston).
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT …
MASTERS OF SEX
Now streaming, Tubi
STARRING two criminally underrated actors – Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan – this series chronicles the early lives and careers of real-life sexologists William Masters and Virgina Johnson. Set in the 1950s and 60s, William (Sheen) is a socially awkward yet renowned fertility expert who enlists the help of his personable and savvy assistant Virginia (Caplan) to recruit participants for his study of sex and sexuality. While working on their covert research, the two opposites attract much to the dismay of William's wife, Libby (Caitlin Fitzgerald). Much like Mad Men, this sophisticated drama explores a period of social, political and cultural change through a unique lens.
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